


Echoes

by HecticHelios



Category: Bastille
Genre: I’m going to hell! I’m going to h, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 11:00:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16763827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecticHelios/pseuds/HecticHelios
Summary: A duet for lovers. An old piano and a violin





	Echoes

The ringing of a piano played in an empty house. The last thing to move out of the house.

Dan sat at the old piano. The piano stool creaked as he shifted his weight. Gentle notes rang out and echoed against bare walls. He sang quietly under his breath.

Engrossed in his own little world, the soft footsteps of Kyle went unheard as the younger man approached carefully.

‘Hey, handsome. We need to move that out now,’ Kyle said, arms crossed as he leant against the door frame.

Dan lifted his hands from the piano gently, letting the chord sing briefly before dying away. ‘Mmm. Ok.’ He swung his legs out from under the piano and stood up.

‘We should get out of the movers’ way,’ Kyle said, taking Dan’s hand in both of his.

The older man ran his fingers through his hair and adjusted his glasses before looking around the nearly-bare room. ‘End of an era, huh?’

‘Nicer house at the end of it, though.’

‘Yeah.’

— — — — —

The soft tune of a piano woke up Kyle. Not an uncommon situation.

He turned his head to the window. There was a slight gap in the curtains and the rising sun was spilling through. He could see the dew on the grass in the field outside, and hear the birds singing from the surrounding forest.

Dan had put his beloved piano in the conservatory. He insisted that he be able to see outside while writing songs: ever since moving out of the original studio, Dan wanted to see outside while making music as much as he could.

‘Hi Kyle,’ Dan said, not looking up from his piano as he heard Kyle walk in to the conservatory.

‘Morning, love,’ yawned Kyle. He set a mug of coffee down on the side table for Dan. ‘Shuffle.’

Dan shuffled, scribbling some lyrics into a notebook as he made space for Kyle to sit besides him. ‘You wanna try that duet again?’

The band had been working on an acoustic album. Dan had been learning violin again - he wanted to surprise people with that news alongside the release.

‘Yeah. Go on.’ Kyle smiled at Dan.

Dan stood up and unpacked his violin as Kyle repositioned himself in front of the keys.

A few moments of tuning up later, the pair were slowly working on their duet piece. Every now and then, Dan would play a bum note and curse quietly. This always made Kyle smile.

— — — — —

Dan being Dan, he would sometimes be found trying to play violin and piano simultaneously. Of course, it never worked out particularly well.

‘You could just wait until I’m home, idiot,’ Kyle joked as Dan someone solemnly revoked his seat to Kyle.

‘Might have lost the idea by then,’ smiled Dan. Their acoustic album had released but Dan’s new found affinity for strings didn’t relent.

The piano stool creaked loudly and Kyle pulled a face. ‘We might need a new piano stool.’

Dan laughed. ‘Yeah.’

— — — — —

Their duet was the band’s first and only instrumental song. Dan tried to add lyrics but couldn’t ever find anything that had the same heart as the instruments alone. It was his song, their song.

The first time they played it live, Dan finished the song crying. ‘Ah, fuck,’ he laughed into the mic. ‘Sorry for being a mess.’

— — — — —

Nobody quite knew what happened. Just that it happened fast.

A sickness of some sort. First he was well, then he wasn’t, then he was gone.

The rain hammered down on the conservatory. Dan was trying, and failing, to play two instruments again. He kept expecting to hear the key in the door, and to hear Kyle come in and sit besides him.

Dan sat at his piano sobbing. ‘Fuck,’ he muttered through gritted teeth. He had isolated himself in the days leading up to the funeral, barely sleeping, just sitting at his piano.

— — — — —

The duet became a solo for a single performance as Dan played the haunting violin melody in the church.

Dan had cried at its first performance. He cried more-so at its last.

— — — — —

Dan was recovering, slowly. Understandably, he hurt more than the rest.

He hated waking up alone.

The band was on a hiatus but Dan continued to write to channel his grief into _something_.

The ringing of a piano played in an empty house.

**Author's Note:**

> writing this while owl city’s good time came on shuffle was uhhhh awkward


End file.
